Printing machine



' July 14, 1953 M. SPIRO 2,645,179

PRINTING MACHINE Filed Feb. 18, 1950 54 wmm wn rs:

INVENTOR. /umr HY 5P? 1:

A TTOENE Patented July 14, 1953 UNITED 1 STATES PATENT OFFICE I 2,645,179 I i I I PRINTING MACHINE Murray Spiro, Brooklyn,;--N. Y. 1 Application February is, 1950, serial No. 144,995 8 Claims. (01. 101-416) 1- r This invention relates to printing machines. More particularly my invention pertains to an anti-smut device for use in a printing machine wherein paper after printing is so transferred that it can be subjected to only a slight tension or drag. Typical machines of this type are sheet feed presses with positive delivery and intermittent feed platen web presses in which cutting, scoring and/or perforating is performed. Even more specifically my invention is concerned with machines of this type which use an ink that is applied hot, or is heated after application, and tends to offset if contacted with another surface, for instance upon stacking. It is necessary in such machines to employ an anti-smut device that imparts no more than a slight drag.

. 2 smut device construct'ed' in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a top view of the anti-smut device and nearby parts of the delivery; portions of said device being broken away to illustrate the interior thereof;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig. 2; and

' tent feed platen web press in which said anti- Up to the present time the anti-smut device It is another object of my invention to pro-- vide an anti-smut device of the character described which can quickly and positively set hot printing. 1 i

It is another object of my invention to pro vide an anti-smut device of the character described which will permit an increased speed of press operation.

It is another object of my invention to provide an anti-smut device of the character described which constitutes relatively few and simple parts, is comparatively inexpensive to make and economical to operate, and is of sturdy and durable construction.

Other objects of my invention will in part be obvious and in part will be pointed out herein after.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exem' plified in the devices hereinafter described'and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown various possible embodiments of my invention,

Fig. 1 is a schematic side view of a sheet fed press with a positive delivery including anantismut device is incorporated;

In general I carry out my invention by pro viding an anti-smut device which includes .a member that presents a cool face in juxtaposi tion to the path of travel of the surfaceof the paper 'opposit'e'to that carryingfresh hot printing. The device'further includes means for urging the paperinto contact with the cool face, said means beingof such nature that it will not impose'a drag on the paper sufficient-to disengage'the samefrom the mechanism. forpositively advancing the paper away from the printing 'station. Pursuant to my invention said means is of a pneumatic character constituting either one or morestreams of air directed onto the freshly printed surface, or orifices in the cool face wherein a su batmospheric pressure is maintained.

Referring now in detail to'the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 -4, the reference numeral I n denotes a sheet feed press with positive delivery. The printing section [2 of the press is of any conventional nature comprising for examplea feed board [4 from which sheets it of paper are transferred consecutively and in proper synchronization to a feed roller l8. Said roller leads the sheet into engagement with a tympan drum 29 on which the sheet is printed by a series of color printing rollers 22, 24. The printing ink is of the type known as a heat-set ink, i. e. an ink which willset quickly if heated after printing, it being noted, as indicated earlier, that such ink must be cooled'to prevent offsetting. Any suitable means, e. g. clips may be carried by the tympandrum to hold the sheets in place during printing. The holding means releases sheets as the latter reach the discharge zone 26 of the printing section.

The positive delivery section 28 of the press has its pick-up end 30 located immediately adjacent thedischarge zone of the printing section. Said delivery section essentially includes a transtympan drum. The pair of sprockets 36 at the pick up end of the delivery section guide the chains into a position where they may receive sheets discharged from the printing section.

Said chains carry several flights of grippers 40 for engaging the sheets. The grippers may be of any well known construction, the one shown herein including two side-by-slde shafts 42, 44 whose ends are attached to the chains 32, 34. I The shaft 42 carries several stationary clamp jaws 46 and the shaft 44 carries the associated moving jaws 48. The shaft 44 is oscillatable, being biased by a spring (not shown) to a position wherein the jaws 48 press against the jaws 46. Stationary cams (not shown) are engaged by levers 49 on the ends of the shafts 44 to rotate the latter to a position in which the clamp jaws are spaced apart. As a flight of grippers approaches the discharge zone of the printing sections, a suitably placed cam opens the clamp jaws to receive a sheet leaving the tympan drum, the flights being placed for synchronous operation with the printing section. The cam is positioned to permit closure of the jaws of the grippers on the leading edge of the discharged sheet which thereupon is drawn into the delivery section. The direction of movement of the chains is indicated by the arrow A and, accordingly, the freshly printed sheet is led along the lower reach of the delivery section with its freshly printed surface uppermost. Supporting bars 50 hold the sheet in the horizontal plane in which its leading edge is gripped.

Suitable means is included to treat the freshly printed sheet. Such means may comprise a set of gas burners 52 located immediately below the path of travel of the sheet. If desired, adifiusin screen 54 may be provided above the burners. Enough heat is provided, as is well known in the art, to heat-set the ink.

An anti-smut device 56 embodyingmy invention is located immediately below the path of travel of the sheets leaving the heating means, the bar 50 being interrupted at said device since the latter serves to support the sheets being cooled while they pass over the same. Said device comprises a fiat metal plate 58 whose upper surface is parallel to and substantially in the plane of the upper surfaces of the rods 50.

The plate is chilled by any type of cooling means. For example said cooling means comprises a box 60 whose top constitutes the plate. A cooling fluid is fed to the box through an inlet conduit 62 and led from the box through an outlet conduit 64. Without being limited thereto, an example of a satisfactory cooling fluid is water which after circulating through the box runs through a heat exchanger immersed in a refrigerated tank of brine. The temperature of the cooling fluid entering the box is not critical, it being observed, however, that the lower the temperature the less need be the dimension of the cooling plate in the direction of travel of 4 the sheets. The actual physical value of this dimension will depend inter alia upon the speed of the press, the characteristics of the ink, the temperature to which the ink is heated, the coeflicient of heat conductivity of the plate, and the temperature and rate of flow of the cooling fluid. The effectiveness of cooling may be increased by guiding the cooling fluid in such manner as to prevent stagnant pockets in the box, this being accomplished, for example, by bafile partitions 66.

The anti-smut device also includes means to create suction at a plurality of regions on the top face of the plate 58, these regions, jointly considered, preferably covering an area extending from adjacent the front edge 68 to adjacent the back edge 10 of the plate and from adjacent one side 12 to adjacent the other side 14 thereof. The suction regions at the sides are located within the space transversed by a sheet transferred by the delivery section in order to economize on the power required to create the desired suction and, for the same reason, cut-outs such as plugs may be employed to render ineffective any lateral suction regions not transversed when narrower sheets are handled.

Said suction means comprises a plurality of tubes 16 parallel to one another and running in a direction perpendicular to the direction of travel of the sheets, the tubes being spaced apart in said direction. The tubes are located beneath the plate 58 and can be secured thereto by welding 18. Passageways 80, formed as by drilling, run from the top face of the plate to the tubes, the upper ends of said passageways constituting the regions of suction mentioned above. Conduits82 connect the tubes to a manifold 84 in which suction is maintained by a standard suction device 86 such as a pump.

In the operations of the press, sheets heated by the burners 52 are pulled by the grippers over the cool plate 58 and are held against the same by suction.

If it is desired to have the plate contact the sheets all the way up to the grippers, shallow grooves 88 can be fashioned in the top face of the plate, said grooves being properly located and just deep enough to accommodate the portions of the gripper jaws below the sheets.

I may use an appreciable suction, for example as much as sixteen inches of mercury, and under these circumstances it is desirable to cut out the regions of suction as they are intermittently exposed so that the desired degree of suction can be maintained uniforml and economically. To this end a valve 90 is interposed in each conduit 82 connecting a tube 15 to the manifold 84. Means further is provided automatically to close the valve or valves controlling the tube or tubes whose passageways temporarily are uncovered. Thus means can be mechanical or electrical in nature, the latter being shown herein. The valves are solenoid controlled and normally are closed, being opened against springs upon energization of their operating solenoids. Each valve is in series circuit with a normally open switch 92 and a source of electric energy (not shown). The group of switches is arranged in a row with the order of switches corresponding to the order of their associated tubes, that is to say with the first switch in the path corresponding to the tube 16 closest to the burner, the second switch corresponding to the second tube, etc. The switches are operated by a moving part which is synchronized with the press. As illustrated herein such part consists of a cam 94 mounted on the shaft of the feed roller. The

high region of the cam extends over a fraction of 360 equal to the length of the sheet in its direction of travel divided by the. spacing between grippers. Moreover, the leading edge of the high region is so placed that it will close the first switch and open the first valve just before the leading edge of a sheet of paper held by a flight of grippers crosses over the openings 80 in the tube I6 controlled by said valve. It will be apparent that this valve will stay open until the trailing edge of the cam leaves said first switch just as the trailing edge of the sheet leaves the associated openings 80. I

In addition to or in lieu of the suction means I may employ positive pressure pneumatic means for forcing the printed sheets into-intimate contact with the cool plate. Said positive pressure means comprises a series of tubes 96 above the plate. These tubes are connected to a manifold 6 companying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Havingthus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. For use in a printing machine wherein individual cut sheets imprinted with fresh hot printing that will offset unless cooled are indi- 98 which is supplied with air under pressure from a pump I00. The tubes 90 are provided with downwardly facing springs which direct'jets of air onto the cool plate, thereby pressing sheets against the same as they are traversed over the plate by the chain delivery. The air ejected from the tubes 96 may be cooled or chilled, if desired, but such cooling cannot be enough to cool the printed hot ink sufficiently to prevent offsetting without considerably enlarging the size of the anti-smut device. It thus will be appreciated that, in accordance with this invention the principal, if not all, the cooling of the sheet is performed by the cool plate 58, the suction and/or positive pressure pneumatic means basically serving only to hold sheets in good contact with said plate. The plate, accordingly is made from a material having a good coefficient of heat conductivity and transfer, such for ina stance as metal.

In Fig. 5 I have shown the anti-smut device 55 used in connection with an intermittent feed platen web press I02. Said press includes an intermittently operable fiat platen section I04 in which printing is performed and another intermittently operable fiat platen section I06 which scores, perforates and/or slits, and also may print. The material operated upon is a web I08 which is pulled through the machine intermittently, e. g. by a pair of feed rollers H0, H2 of which the driven roller H0 is rotated intermittently, as by a Geneva drive H4. The sections I64, I6 print and slit, perforate and/or score while the paper is stationary. The web cannot be subjected to substantial tension lest it part Where it is slit, perforated and/or scored before emerging from the feed rollers. However, by using an anti-smut device embodying my invention the ink used in the section I04 can be a hot-set ink and can be set by burners H6 and cooled by the anti-smut device without too greatly increasing the tension inthe web. It will be obvious that in the press I02 there is no need to intermittently cut off the suction.

It thus will be seen that I have provided devices which achieve all the objects of my invention and are well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described, or shown in the acvidually so transferred in a fixed path of travel that they can be subjected to only a slight tension, an anti-smut device comprising a fixed member having a face in juxtaposition to the path of travelof the surface of the sheets opposite to the freshly printed surface, means to 0001 said member, and pneumatic suction means in said member for urging into contact with said face sheets traversing said member.

' 2..For use in a printing machine wherein individual cut sheets imprinted with fresh hot printing that will offsetunless cooled are individually: so transferred in a fixed path of travel that they can be subjected to only a slight tension, an anti-smut device comprising a fixed member having a'plane face in juxtaposition to the path of travel of the surface of the sheets opposite to thefreshly printed surface, means to cool said member, and pneumatic suction means in said member for urging into contact with said face sheets traversing said member.

' '3. For use in a printing machine wherein individual cut sheets imprinted with fresh hot printing that will offset unless cooled are individually so transferred in a fixed path of travel opposite to the freshly printed surface, means to cool said member, and pneumatic suction means in said member for urging into contact with said face sheets traversing said member.

4. For use in a printing machine wherein individual cut sheets imprinted with fresh hot printing that will offset unless cooled are individually so transferred in a fixed path of travel that they can be subjected to only a slight tension, an anti-smut device comprising a fixed member having a face in juxtaposition to the cool said member, said face having orifices therein, and pump means to maintain a subatmospheric pressure in said orifices.

5. For use in a printing machine wherein individual cut sheets imprinted with fresh hot printing that will offset unless cooled are individually so transferred in a fixed path of travel by a transfer means that they can be subjected to only a slight tension, an anti-smut device comprising a fixed plate having a face in juxtaposition to the path of travel of the surface of the sheets opposite to the freshly printed surface, means to cool said member, and pneumatic suction means for urging into contact with said face sheets traversing said member, said plate having grooves therein extending parallel to the path of travel of and in registry with holding devices in the transfer means to accommodate the same.

6. For use in a printing machine wherein individual cut sheets imprinted with fresh hot printing that will offset unless cooled are individually so transferred in a fixed path of travel by transfer means that they can be subjected to only a slight tension, an anti-smut device comprising a fixed member having a face in juxtaposition to the path of travel of the surface of the sheets opposite to the freshly printed surface, means to cool said member, saidface having orifices therein, and means to maintain a subatmospheric pressure in said orifices, said last-named means including a mechanism rendering the last-named means ineffective to maintain subatmospheric pressure in those orifices uncovered by the moving sheets.

'7. For use in a printing machine wherein individual cut sheets imprinted with fresh .hot printing that will offset unless cooled are individually so transferred in a fixed path of travel by transfer means that they can be subjected to only a slight tension, an anti-smut device comprising a member having a face in juxtaposition to the path of travel of the surface of the sheets opposite to the freshly printed surface, means to cool said member, said face having orifices therein, and means to maintain a sub-atmospheric pressure in said orifices, said last-named means including a plurality of tubes extending transversely of the path of travel of the sheets and spaced apart from one another in the direction of said path of travel, said tubes being located beneath said member, means connecting said tubes to the orifices above the same, a suction pump, individual valves connecting the suction pump to the tubes, and means operable in synchronism with the movement of the transfer means to operate the valves in sequence so as to maintain sub-atmospheric pressure in the orifices uncovered by the moving sheets.

8. For use in a printing machine wherein in- 8 dividual cut sheets imprinted with fresh printing that will offset unless set are individually so transferredin a fixed path of travel that they can be subjected to only a slight tension: an antismut device comprising a fixed heat exchange member having a face in juxtaposition to the path of travel of the surface of the sheets opposite' to*the freshly printed surface, means to maintain said member at a temperature different from the temperature of the fresh printing whereby to-set said printing, and pneumatic suction means in said member and having operative openings in the mentioned face thereof for urging into contact with said face sheets traversing said member.

MURRAY SPIRO.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,831,624 Francoise Nov. 10, 1931 1,867,256 Egli July 12, 1932 2,022,593 Fuykers Nov. 26, 1935 2,157,387 MacArthur May 9, 1939 2,359,825 Campbell Oct. 10, 1944 2,360,340 Harris Oct. 17, 1944 2,408,498 Welk Oct. 1, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 621,170 Great Britain Apr. 5, 1949 

